The invention concerns office machines which have a printer associated with a roll of paper. Examples of this type of office machine are a fax machine or a portable payment terminal.
The roll of paper is received into a housing closed by a lid hinged on the machine chassis. When there is no more paper, the lid is opened and a replacement made.
Two types of such office machines are known.
In the first type, the motor and the control mechanism of a roller for driving the paper in front of the printing head by friction form a single-piece unit. The positioning of the paper is awkward because its leading edge has to be inserted into a slot giving access to the drive roller and to the head. It is therefore necessary to have both hands free and therefore to put the machine down, in the case of a payment terminal.
In the second type, some of the components of the mechanism are integral with the lid and, being therefore mobile, they thus offer better access for replacement of the paper in its housing and for achieving cooperation between the leading edge and the head. However, at each replacement, the re-meshing of the toothed wheels between the fixed part and the moving part of the mechanism causes those parts to wear. In addition, the mechanism is not fully protected and there is a risk of damage during handling or as a result of polluting particles getting in.
The invention is concerned with an office machine having a lid and a skirt ensuring that when the lid is in the open position for positioning a paper roll (12), the the roll is guided, when the lid is in the open position, the chassis is sealed, and when the lid is closed, the lid is being closed, the lid is cushioned.
To that end, the present invention concerns an office machine which has a paper roll printer in a chassis, with a housing for the paper roll, means of driving the roll and a lid for closing the housing, characterised by the fact that the drive means are mounted on the lid.
Thus all the moving parts for driving the paper form one unit and are therefore not very susceptible to external stresses. In addition, when the lid is in the open position, the mechanism is well removed from the printing head thus giving free access to it, so that the leading edge of the paper may easily be engaged by the head.